Promises You Can't Keep: A Sirius Story
by Andromeda
Summary: It's Harry's 7th year, Sirius contracts a fatal disease and ends up in the hospital. A short scene. MORE TO COME, I SWEAR!


Promises You Can't Keep  
By: Andromeda  
  
Author's note: This is a very short and somewhat stupid story that I just thought up and wrote it down quickly. I didn't have time to elaborate. There really isn't much of an ending; it's just a scene. Takes place in Harry's 7th year, and Pettigrew got caught somehow...I don't know, I just had to whip up an explanation for the scene. Oh no I'm rambling again, aren't I? Well, review...no flames please. I already know how defective and incomplete it is.  
  
"Hello," Said a tall, skinny witch with a fluffy bob of brown hair at the counter. "Can I help you?" A glittering sign hovering in front of the desk read "Welcome to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."  
  
Harry took a step forward. "Yes... can you tell us what room Sirius Black is in?"   
  
"Room 16091, go down the hall, take four rights, a left, another right, then go straight until you see a restroom and take another left." said the witch at the counter, reading from a long list on a piece of parchment. "Relation?"  
  
"Friends," Said Hermione.  
  
"No, he's my godfather..." Harry pointed out.  
  
"Oh right...."  
  
The witch peered back at the list and raised an eyebrow. "My, haven't seen a case of this in ten years."  
  
"What?" Asked Ron.  
  
"Famaeger. It's quite rare."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
The woman looked up. "I'm no expert, but I can't say that it's a good thing...It destroys the body from the inside...it's caused by ingesting a kind of bacteria generally found in rodents, but even then it is very rare."  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, but Harry took another step forward. "But he'll be okay? You can cure it?"  
  
The woman frowned. "It really depends on the severity. I don't know. No, there isn't a cure. You may want to talk to one of the mediwizards," she said slowly.  
  
Harry's mouth hung slightly open as Hermione tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, Harry...." She said kindly.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione started down the hallway, counting numbers.   
  
"One, three, five..." Hermione read off. "This is going to take us all day." Hermione whipped her wand from her pocket, did a complicated swirling motion with it, and, having just passed the test a few months earlier, disapparated.  
  
Harry and Ron looked at each other. Then Ron, shrugging, pulled out his wand, disapparated, and Harry followed suit.  
  
Hermione was already standing near the door when they arrived, on which large, peeling red letters read:  
  
16091  
  
Harry approached it and cautiously turned the doorknob.  
  
A man sat straight up in his bed, engrossed in a copy of The Daily Prophet, muttering exasperatedly under his breath. However, he looked up as the door opened with a surprised expression, and Harry found himself staring into the face of his godfather.  
  
"Hello, Sirius," Said Hermione as she entered. Sirius stared at her.   
  
"What are you three doing here?" He asked as they entered. Sirius's hair was short and clean, and he no longer wore the ragged gray robes that he had when he escaped Azkaban. Peter Pettigrew had just recently been captured, not more than a few weeks earlier, and Sirius had been pardoned by the ministry. But he had dark circles beneath his eyes, and looked pale, thin and exhausted.   
  
"It's Saturday, and Dumbledore gave us permission," Hermione said hurriedly. Sirius smiled slightly and muttered something they couldn't hear.   
  
Several chairs were positioned around Sirius's bed and Hermione and Ron each took one and sat down. Harry, however, stayed put, staring at Sirius.   
  
Sirius's face instantly fell into one of concern. "All right?" He asked Harry, who was glued to the spot.   
  
Harry didn't waste any time. "Sirius," he said with a quick breath, "Are...are you going to die?"  
  
There was a very uncomfortable pause in which Sirius looked quite stunned and Hermione looked up at Harry openmouthed. But then he began to fold up the pages of his newspaper with a slight smile.   
  
"Everyone dies, Harry..." Sirius said dismissively in a very quiet tone. His voice was weak and shaky, as though he hadn't spoken for some time. But then he looked up into Harry's penetrating stare. "Who gave you that idea?"  
  
"The woman at the desk," Harry said, still rigid in his spot.  
  
"Felicia told you I was going to die?" Sirius said, eyebrows raised, with the slightest hint of astonishment in his voice.  
  
"Not exactly. She said...well, she said a lot of things."  
  
Sirius glanced back and forth at both of them. He shrugged, looking uneasy. "Yes, I'm sick. But I'm not going to die," he said stubbornly.  
  
He suddenly looked up, casting around for a change of subject. "So...passed your apparation tests, have you?"  
  
"Oh yes, I must say that it makes things so much easier now," Hermione said, nodding, wringing her hands in her lap. "But it took Ron twice to pass the-"  
  
"Shut up," Ron said, rolling his eyes.   
  
Sirius grinned. "Well, you got me beat." He pointed proudly to himself with his thumb. "Five."  
  
Harry had finally seated himself in a chair. He laughed nervously. "Five? No, really, come on, I thought you and my dad were supposed to be really clever at Hogwarts!"   
  
"Oh, we were clever enough. Of course James passed on his first try. I think I was just too lazy to practice." Sirius laughed, but an odd troubled look lingered in his eyes.   
  
"I splinched," Ron said with a small smirk.   
  
"Never did that, really, but just could never apparate to the right place. Ended up somewhere in the forbidden forest once-nearly got eaten by this giant spider."  
  
Harry and Ron exchanged glances. Ron shuddered, as though he had never quite recovered from that night.  
  
They continued to talk for some time, laughing about various things, until Sirius's laughter suddenly turned into a hacking cough which never seemed to cease. He put his face to his arm, drawing short, ragged breaths between coughs, and after a few minutes was able to calm himself and reach for a glass of swirling bluish green potion on the bedside table. His hand shook as he held the glass, and Sirius looked at his hand as though it were something frightening that he couldn't control.   
  
Sirius noticed all three of them staring at him. "Sorry," he said with a weak smile, putting the potion to his lips and shuddering. "Ugh... sickening...it's a wonder this stuff is legal..."  
  
Harry wasn't smiling. Hermione glanced at Harry, then down at her watch. "Oh, we really must be going now..." She said, biting her lip. She and Ron stood up, but Harry remained in his chair.   
  
"Harry?" Asked Hermione.   
  
"You go ahead. I'll catch up. Don't wait up for me, tell Dumbledore I'm coming if he asks," Harry said in an emotionless voice.  
  
Hermione looked close to tears, but she nodded, and she and Ron started towards the door.   
  
"Bye, Sirius..." Hermione said with a nod.   
  
"Nice seeing you," Sirius said with a grin. "Once I dig my way out of this hell-hole I'll come visit."  
  
Ron laughed. "Bye then. See you, Harry."  
  
The door closed with a snap and Harry was left.  
  
"Something wrong?" Sirius asked gently.   
  
Harry looked desperately around the room before looking back at Sirius. "It's just..." He trailed off, turning toward the window, blinking hard.   
  
"Harry, come over here," Sirius commanded, though not in a harsh tone at all. Harry stood up and walked obediently to the side of Sirius's bed. Sirius motioned for him to sit down in a chair right next to him, which he did. Harry fiddled nervously with his wand.   
  
Sirius was looking very seriously into his eyes. "I'm going to be fine, and you're going to be fine. We're both fighters. You know that by now, don't you?"  
  
Harry nodded mutely. Before he could stop himself, he had thrown himself into Sirius's arms. Sirius embraced Harry tightly for at least five full minutes, as though he were his own son, ignoring the biting pain inside him and almost collapsing in grief.  
  
As Harry let go, he found it becoming increasingly difficult to blink back the burning feeling in his eyes. But he was seventeen; he couldn't act like a child.   
  
"I'm going to get better and get out of here as soon as I can. Then you're going to come and stay at my place for a while this summer."  
  
"Of course," said Harry, starting to feel slightly better.  
  
Sirius smiled, but Harry couldn't help but notice that the empty look in his eyes had not gone away since he had been in Azkaban.  
  
Suddenly Sirius had shut his eyes tightly and lurched forward, burying his face in his hands. The pain that had erupted inside of him was unbearable. He nearly screamed; it had never been this bad before. Invisible knives were stabbing him from the inside. It was almost equal in agony as the cruciatus curse.   
  
And then all at once it stopped. Sirius looked up, gasping for air, suddenly realizing that his eyes were wet and his entire body was shaking. He wiped his eyes quickly on his sleeve, reached for the glass on his table, and drained it.  
  
Harry was staring at Sirius in horror. For a moment they both locked eyes, and then Harry gazed hopelessly around the room. He shook his head in disbelief.  
  
"Harry," Sirius said once more, calming himself, "I'm not going to die." He paused, a grief-stricken look in his bloodshot eyes. "I promise you."  
  
Harry stared, and then stood up, enraged. "Don't make promises you can't keep!" He said furiously, although he wasn't quite sure why he was so angry. Sirius stared at him, startled, as Harry flew out the door, slamming it behind him.   
  
Author's Note: Yes, I know this isn't much of an ending, but it leaves the prospect of a sequel open and lets you...um...use your imaginations. So were you depressed? Or were you just laughing at its stupidity? Review!!  
  
  



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